New Delhi: PanIIT Alumni India is urging Indian professionals working abroad to return to ‘a nation that has arrived’.
In a statement posted on X, the organisation renewed its appeal to the diaspora.
“A career built on a visa is a career built on uncertain ground. The ecosystem that once compelled our brightest minds to leave — the absence of world-class research opportunities, deep-tech infrastructure and patent capital — is no longer what it was,” the statement read.
The alumni group stressed that India today offers challenges and opportunities that were once only available abroad.
The statement came after the US Department of Labor suspended eight major tech and IT outsourcing companies from the Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) programme, halting all new and pending employment-based Green Card applications.
“Build here, scale here, contribute here. This is not a rejection of the world. It is an invitation to come home to a nation that has arrived,” said the statement by PanIIT Alumni India.
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‘The IIT covenant’
The alumni group also expressed concern over the United States’ treatment of Indian professionals. For over five decades, it said, Indian engineers and technologists have been among the most productive contributors to American innovation, research, and industry.
“They have built products, filed patents, founded companies and created jobs on American soil. To characterize them collectively as indentured servants is neither accurate nor fair,” read the statement.
PanIIT Alumni India represents alumni from all 23 institutions.
“For decades, we celebrated when our brightest minds left for American shores. It is time we asked what we lost in the process. A visa was never a stable foundation for a career and this week’s events prove it. The IIT covenant was nation before self. The most exciting problems and the greatest impact now await our engineers at home,” said Prabhat Kumar, IRS and Chairman, PanIIT Alumni India.
The Ministry of External Affairs also released a statement, responding to remarks by US Vice President JD Vance.
“We believe that such descriptions are unwarranted and ignore the fact that Indian professionals in the United States are highly educated and skilled contributors to its economy and innovation ecosystem… Resorting to terminology that carries painful historical and colonial legacy connotations is deeply offensive.”
The statement clarified that PERM is distinct from the H-1B visa programme.
“The suspension of PERM applications does not, by itself, affect the validity of existing H-1B visas or the status of H-1B visa holders and their dependents, though there could be some impact on the permanent-residency/Green Card process of eligible employees of the affected companies,” read the statement.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)